D.A. Duve tossed off independent line

CANTON  St. Lawrence County District Attorney Nicole M. Duve has lost her place on an independent line because 18 percent of her petition signatures were invalid.

There were a lot of different reasons signatures were thrown out, said Thomas A. Nichols, county Republican commissioner. Some were invalid because they were signed by people who are not registered to vote at all.

Other signatures were eliminated because the person already had signed a district attorney nominating petition for another party, such as Democratic or Republican.

Some listed incorrect addresses or were illegible.

Mr. Nichols said 320 of the 1,734 signatures were determined to be invalid, which reduced the number of valid signatures to 1,414. The petition required 1,500 valid signatures.

The review was conducted over several days by Mr. Nichols and Democratic Election Commissioner Jennie H. Bacon. We reviewed the entire petition, Mr. Nichols said.

Ms. Duve, a Democrat from Potsdam, is seeking re-election and is being challenged by Republican Mary E. Rain, Ogdensburg. Ms. Duve will appear on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines on the Nov. 5 ballot. Ms. Rain will be on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines.